Balancing Education Opportunities with Sustainable Travel and Development
Makarewicz, C. 2020. Chapter 16 in E. Deakin (Ed.), Transportation, Land Use, and Environmental Planning, pp. 299–331. Elsevier.
Summary
Schools are part of families’ daily lives, and the school trip is one of the most frequent trips households make. Yet fewer than half of school-age children in the United States and Canada walk or bike to school, and school travel accounts for a substantial share of morning peak traffic. Distance is one of the strongest influences on how children get to school. This chapter examines three major reasons children are traveling farther: school quality, which shapes where families choose to live; school siting policies, which in the United States have favored large campuses on cheaper land at the urban edge; and the shift from neighborhood school assignment to school choice programs.
Drawing on research from the United States and other countries, the chapter traces how the search for higher-performing schools has fueled suburbanization, urban disinvestment, residential segregation, and sprawl; how school choice can lengthen trips even for families who stay in cities; and how differences in school funding and governance across countries shape these patterns. It reviews efforts to address them, from in-school reforms to Safe Routes to School programs, changes in siting and transportation policy, and models that integrate school planning with land use, housing, and transportation.
The chapter argues that schools need more from planners than suitable sites and safe routes. Breaking the link between school quality, sprawl, and driving will require planners, school districts, housing providers, and community partners to work together across neighborhoods and regions, strengthening anti-poverty supports for families and resources inside schools, so that more families can choose good schools close to home.
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